Teaneck High School


Teaneck High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in Teaneck, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Teaneck Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1935.
As of the 2023–24 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,261 students and 112.3 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 11.2:1. There were 348 students eligible for free lunch and 127 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The school was renovated in 2003–04, giving students new classrooms as well as a new student center. Teaneck created two academies that focus on the sciences and the arts.
Teaneck's sports teams are nicknamed the Highwaymen; girls' teams are called the Highwaywomen. The team name comes from the highwaymen who would seize money and belongings from those traveling along highways during the 17th and 18th century and for the school's location overlooking Route 4.

History

The school was opened in the current building, which resembles a Tudor palace, in 1928, and a new wing was added in 1936. Honors courses were introduced in the 1960s. Teaneck has been a four-year high school since the 1980s.
File:PWA, New Jersey "Hod carriers move bricks up for the construction of the Tea Neck High School." - NARA - 195866.tif|thumb|right|PWA hod carriers move bricks for construction of Teaneck High School
In 1934, Teaneck High School became the first in the nation to offer a program in aviation as a vocational component of its academic program. Using a plane purchased for $1,800, students were trained in class regarding the technical aspects of flying during the first year of the two-year program, with students getting at least the minimum 50 hours of flight training during the second year needed to obtain a pilot's license.
In May 1964, Teaneck's schools were officially desegregated, after the district's board of education voted to implement a centralized sixth grade school that would serve the entire township.
In 1972, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey represented Teaneck High School student Abbe Seldin in her legal battle to play tennis at the school. The coach would not let her play for the men's team, although no women's team existed. Seldin won her case and later became the first woman at Syracuse University to win an athletic scholarship.
In 1987, the school was the subject of a 20/20 documentary on the effects of Heavy Metal on students.
On May 1, 2014, more than 60 students were taken into police custody following a senior prank at Teaneck High School. A police officer described the overturned tables and vaseline-smeared doorknobs as "the craziest thing ever seen" in his 19-year career. Initial reports claimed that students had also urinated in the halls, which was refuted by the district's superintendent.

Awards, recognition and rankings

In Newsweek's May 22, 2007, issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Teaneck High School was listed in 1080th place, the 33rd-highest ranked school in New Jersey.
The school was the 156th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 126th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 114th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 121st in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 102nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 266th out of 367 public high schools statewide in its 2009–10 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.

Academies

In the fall of 2002, two academies, or "schools within a school," were launched. The T.E.A.M.S. Academy is a three-hour daily program that seeks to integrate technology, mathematics, science, and computer science in a smaller learning environment. The TAA Performing Arts Academy aims to integrate various art forms such as dance, film making, instrumental music and technical theatre to prepare students for college majors and internships in the Fine and Performing Arts.

Extracurricular activities

Shearwood "Woody" McClelland, III won the National 11th and 12th Grade Chess Championship in 1994 and 1995, the first repeat champion in tournament history. Teaneck High School won the New Jersey State High School Chess Championship in 1997, captained by Woody's sister, Kimberly.

Athletics

Teaneck High School Highwaymen / Highwaywomen compete in the Big North Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Bergen and Passaic counties, and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. In the 2009–10 school year, the school competed in the North Jersey Tri-County Conference, which was established on an interim basis to facilitate the realignment. Until the NJSIAA's 2009 realignment, the school had participated in Division A of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League, which included high schools located in Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties, and was separated into three divisions based on NJSIAA size classification. With 876 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Liberty Blue division of the North Jersey Super Football Conference, which includes 112 schools competing in 20 divisions, making it the nation's biggest football-only high school sports league. The school was classified by the NJSIAA as Group IV North for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 893 to 1,315 students.
Sports offered include:
;Fall: boys and girls cross country, football, boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball and girls tennis
;Winter: boys and girls basketball, boys and girls swimming, indoor track, scholastic wrestling, boys and girls bowling, and boys and girls fencing
;Spring: baseball, softball, tennis, boys track, girls track, golf, boys volleyball, boys and girls crew
Teaneck won the Group IV cross country state championship in 1961. The school's Dave Hunt was the individual champion in Group IV in 1964.
The boys soccer team won the Group IV state championship in 1965 with a 1–0 victory against runner-up Steinert High School in the tournament final.
The boys tennis team won the Group IV state championship in 1967, defeating Wayne Valley High School 2–1 in the final match of the playoffs.
The boys' basketball team won the Group III state championship in 1999, 2003, 2016 and 2017. The team won the Group IV state championship in 1999 and advanced to the Tournament of Champions final, losing 54–45 to Seton Hall Preparatory School. The team won the 2003 Group IV state championship with a 61–54 win over Elizabeth High School in the semis and a 68–56 win against Trenton Central in the finals. Winning their 28th consecutive game that season, the Highwaymen took the 2011 North I Group III state sectional title with a 68–40 win over Passaic Valley Regional High School during their first year under head coach Jerome Smart. That same season, head coach Shenee Clark led the Highwaywomen to a state sectional title in the North I Group III region with a 63–42 win over Ramapo High School.
The THS homecoming football game has been held annually on Thanksgiving Day against rival Hackensack High School since 1931, alternating each year with each school as host. Hackensack has won 62 of the 85 games through the 2017 season. NJ.com listed the rivalry as 27th best in their 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football".
Runner Kahlia Taylor won the Group III state championships in 2012 in both the 100m and 200m sprints, becoming only the sixth female runner from a public school in North Jersey to achieve this accomplishment.
In 2020, the girls' bowling team won the Group II state championship, the first state title in program history.

Administration

The school's principal is Piero LoGiudice. His core administration team includes two vice principals.

Notable alumni

In 2002, Joseph White, former principal of Teaneck High School, was charged with fondling a 17-year-old student but was subsequently acquitted. In June 2006, he pleaded guilty to official child endangerment and was sentenced to one year in prison.